Power converters formed using power switching elements have been expanded in applicable range in accordance with the increased capacity and speed of such switching elements. Examples of power switching elements may be an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT), a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) and the like. As a protection device for such a power converter, the technique employing a Rogowski coil is disclosed.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-169533 (PTD 1) discloses a power conversion apparatus in which a Rogowski coil is applied to form a protection device for a switching element. This power conversion apparatus includes: a Rogowski coil configured to detect a temporal change in a main circuit current flowing through the switching element; and a short circuit detector configured to detect based on a terminal voltage on this Rogowski coil that a short-circuit current flows through the switching element.